Fort Street Special School for Boys

Young men stand in a row on the lawn in front of a long one-story frame building in this 9 3/4" x 7 1/4" black and white photograph. The building has two entrances with steps leading to them, a shingled roof, and four chimneys. Trees with bare branches are visible in the background.

In 1913, a school was proposed to accommodate a number of boys who "had no interest in school at all" and were considered "mischief makers", according to OPS documents. A few boys were selected to attend the new school at 30th and Brown Streets when it opened in January of 1914. The group grew to 50 within a short time. The first principal was E.D. Gipson, former school truant officer. The school was to provide manual training in printing and agriculture. There were also metal and wood working shops, a drafting class, and repair shop for small items. Students were encouraged to use their creativity: one boy created a buzzer and gong system to signal class periods from an old clock mechanism that was wired to electricity. What began as a somewhat punitive program became a sought-after assignment by students in other schools. The program later was moved to the campus of the High School of Commerce.